Section: South Africa Today (South Africa)

In an interview with Sputnik, Mikhail Pogrebinsky, head of the Kiev-based Center for Political and Conflict Resolution Studies, suggested that the numerous problems Ukrainians will face after entering the EU will lead to widespread disillusionment about their country’s visa-free regime with the EU. On Thursday, the EU Council approved the...

YALTA (Russia) (Sputnik) – Despite Western sanctions against Crimea, health tourists hailing from 64 countries across the globe visited the peninsula in 2016, head of the Crimean Parliament’s Committee on Health-Resort Complex and Tourism Alexey Chernyak said on Friday. “Last year, people from 64 countries visited Crimea to receive medical...

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened new criminal cases over the shelling of Donbass by the Ukrainian army in early May, the committee’s spokeswoman, Svetlana Petrenko, said Friday. “Russia’s Investigative Committee… established new facts of Ukrainian soldiers carrying out artillery shelling of...

KIEV (Sputnik) — Ukraine will discuss with US experts the possibility of coal imports from the United States soon, Energy Minister Igor Nasalik said Thursday, the day Ukraine had extended its energy emergency for another month. “Most of the contracts we have [on coal imports] were signed with South Africa… Today, there are some coal deliverers...

KIEV (Sputnik) — According to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, over 50 people were detained across the country on Tuesday, most of them in Kiev. “There were detentions in Ukraine today of peaceful rally participants over non-violent use of Soviet symbols. We believe that the Ukrainian government must ensure freedom of expression and freedom of...

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The scope of official celebrations of the Victory Day was rather limited this year, almost restricting to the country’s President Petro Poroshenko laying flowers at the Grave of an Unknown Soldier in the Park of Eternal Glory in the Ukrainian capital. ‘Immortal regiment’ in Kiev The “Immortal Regiment” march, a...

KIEV (Sputnik) – Several thousand people are taking part in the Immortal Regiment commemorative march in Kiev. Ukrainian radicals have announced their intention to derail the campaign. Several dozen Ukrainian nationalists gathered near memorial and were asked by the participants of the Immortal Regiment march to not disturb the laying of the...

ANKARA (Sputnik) — Citizens of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and other former Soviet republics took part in the event. They, in particular, laid flowers to the monument of the Russian soldiers, who died in captivity during 1877-1878 Russian-Turkish war. “Today, the “Immortal Regiment” march took place on the Island of...

BEIRUT (Sputnik) — The event was organized by the Russian Embassy and the Russian Cultural Center. Representatives of the Russian diaspora, citizens of Belarus, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Lebanon took part in the action. “Since April we have recorded 220 veterans, people came with photos of their heroes. We can say that 30% of the...

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian journalists who had visited post-referendum Crimea will not be allowed to enter Ukraine even if they are accredited for the Eurovision Song Contest, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, said Sunday. Earlier in the day, a photojournalist working for the Rossiya Segodnya...